News

On the day after Thanksgiving, four federal agencies released a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PEIS) proposing to designate more than 6,000 miles of energy transport corridors on federal lands in 11 western states.

New ways of squeezing out greater efficiency from solar photovoltaic cells are emerging from computer simulations and lab tests conducted by a team of physicists and engineers at MIT.

The new Model ST98HT Mass Flow Meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) is designed to provide highly accurate flow measurement in extreme process air/gas temperatures of up to 850F. The device is a multi-tasker, capable of measuring air/gas mass flow rate, totalized flow, and temperature. In coal-fired power plants, for example, the ST98HT could measure […]

Yokogawa Corp. of America introduced the ToughMeter series 270, a series of analog panel meters designed to operate in harsh environments. The 2½-inch and 3½-inch ToughMeter features an accuracy of 2% DC and 3% AC. Both have metal cases and polycarbonate windows, gasket-sealed bezels, terminals, and zero regulators to ensure protection from dust and moisture. […]

India is aggressively pursuing plans to expand — dramatically — its power generation capacity. In September and October, the nation inked lucrative deals to obtain nuclear technology from France and the U.S. Indian media speculated that the country was poised to increase its nuclear power capacity 15 times, to over 60,000 MW from the existing […]

A new line of injection-molded flowmeters from Dakota Instruments, Polysulfone Meters, meet the performance demands of a wide variety of industry-specific applications, including air-sampling equipment, water treatment and distribution systems, photo processing equipment, aquaculture, and desalinization equipment. The easy-to-install flowmeters are manufactured of polysulfone, a heat-resistant thermoplastic material for good chemical resistance. Flow indications provide […]

McCrometer’s new Corrosion-Resistant V-Cone Flow Meter has been engineered to provide precise flow measurement in liquid, steam, or gas media, while requiring virtually no maintenance in the most demanding processes where corrosive conditions exist. The design of the flowmeter is based on advanced differential pressure (DP) technology and requires no moving parts. Built-in flow conditioning […]

FilterSense’s new multi-channel particulate monitor, Model PM 100, is suited for monitoring multi-compartment fabric filter baghouses, multi-chamber cartridge dust collectors, multi-clone cyclones, and clusters of bin vents. For large fabric filters in coal-burning power plants, FilterSense claims the multi-channel systems have proven to be vastly superior to an opacity monitor in the stack. The system […]

The SBS75x Connector, the newest addition to Anderson Power Products’ family of Finger Proof products, is recommended for use with hazardous DC voltages in systems operating from 50 to 600 volts, where risk of shock can be health-threatening. The patented connector provides power contacts rated up to 110 amps, and the touch-safe design provides protection […]

A recent ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board to block a permit that the agency last year granted the Deseret Power Electric Cooperative for a new coal-fired unit could have far-reaching implications for as many as 100 coal-fired power plants seeking air permits in the U.S. The Sierra Club had asked the […]

Two days after NRG Energy flatly rejected Exelon Corp.’s acquisition offer, saying the $6.2 billion proposal “grossly” undervalued the company, Exelon launched a hostile bid for the Princeton, N.J., company, taking its offer directly to NRG shareholders. The U.S. power giant has also filed suit against NRG’s directors, and it has reportedly threatened to expand […]

California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday signed an executive order to clear the red tape for renewable projects and streamline permitting and siting of new plants and transmission lines. The order will speed up that state’s adoption of a mandate to supply 33% of its power from renewable sources by 2020, Schwarzenegger said. California already […]

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday approved an agreement that allows a 1.2-mile portion of the controversial 37.2-mile transmission line proposed in that state by the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Co. (TrAILCo). The commission stayed the rest of Allegheny’s proposal for further consideration. The regulatory body voted 4-1 to adopt a motion (PDF) that […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has granted the last of seven large-scale carbon sequestration project awards to the Big Sky Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, an effort led by Montana State University-Bozeman. The $66.9 million award will allow the partnership to conduct a large-volume test in a Wyoming sandstone formation to demonstrate if it is possible […]

Citing high construction costs and carbon dioxide emissions, the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin last week denied a plan by Alliant Energy Corp.’s Wisconsin Power and Light (WP&L) to build a new 300-MW coal-fired electric generation facility. The PSC unanimously decided that the $1.26 billion project was too costly when weighing it against other […]

Maryland’s Public Service Commission (PSC) has ordered the state’s utilities to find ways to generate more power to avoid shortfalls and possible brownouts or blackouts predicted to hit the state between 2011 and 2012. In 2007, and this past May 2008, PJM Interconnection, the region’s grid operator, told the PSC that Maryland could face electricity shortages—and […]

The Department of Energy is hoping to expand the capacity of the $90 billion Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada—a facility that President-elect Barack Obama has consistently said he opposes—instead of building a second repository, The New York Times reported last week. Edward F. Sproat III, director of the DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive […]

British Petroleum (BP) has reportedly withdrawn all plans to build wind farms and other renewable projects in the UK, and it has dropped out of a government competition to build a carbon capture and storage plant. The Guardian reports that the company will instead concentrate its $8 billion renewable program on the U.S., attracted to […]

Widespread efforts aimed at reducing carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewables for the generation of electricity will fundamentally determine the future course of electric reliability across North America, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) said in a recently released report. “We are concerned that, when viewed from a continent-wide perspective, current climate […]

After two years of review, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) last week approved a final air permit for the Southwest Electric Power Co.’s (SWEPCO) John W. Turk, Jr. Power Plant. With the permit, construction on the 600-MW coal-fired facility—one of the first U.S. coal plants to use ultrasupercritical technology—will begin immediately in Fulton, […]

If California adopts requirements recommended last month by state agencies to generate at least 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, it may cost the state $60 billion, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said in a report released Thursday. The regulatory agency, which had advocated the 33% renewable standard along with the […]

NRG Energy Inc. on Sunday rejected Exelon Corp.’s $6.08 billion acquisition offer—a merger deal that would have created the single largest power company in the U.S.—saying that the “opportunistically timed proposal grossly undervalues” the company. Stressing that the offer was unsolicited, the company’s board of directors unanimously agreed that Exelon’s Oct. 19 proposal significantly undervalued […]

Ministers at the UK House of Commons last week approved, by a clear majority, a climate change bill that would commit that country to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. If the bill passes scrutiny by the parliament’s upper house and receives Royal Assent—as is expected later […]

Six New England states and New York last week asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic coal plants to clean up their smokestack mercury emissions. The seven states—Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont—have claimed that mercury pollution from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, […]

T. Boone Pickens will “scale back” a multibillion-dollar project to build the world’s biggest wind farm in Texas because of the capital market crunch. The Texas oilman’s Mesa Power LLP had announced plans for a four-phase project to add 4,000 MW of wind power to the Texas grid last year. The Pampa Wind Project was […]

Canada’s only private nuclear generating company, Bruce Power, said Friday that it is considering building two new nuclear reactors in Nanticoke, Ontario, the site of North America’s largest coal-fired plant that is slated to shut down by 2014. The plans have met strong opposition from the provincial government. The company said it would launch an […]

The North Carolina Utilities Commission last week approved Progress Energy Carolinas’ selected route for a 64-mile, 230-kV electric transmission line between Richmond and Cumberland counties in the North Carolina Sandhills. The transmission line, announced in 2007, is part of a project that includes a 600-MW natural gas–fueled power plant to be built at the company’s […]

Germany’s Siemens Energy and RWE Energy said Friday that the first virtual power plant operated by the companies had come on-line. The pilot project, which linked nine small hydroelectric facilities with a total capacity of about 8.6 MW, would demonstrate the technical and economic viability of virtual power plants and accumulate findings for further possible […]

GE Energy and the University of Wyoming (UW) reached agreement last week on a proposed development plan for the High Plains Gasification Advanced Technology Center. This facility, consisting of a small-scale gasification system, would enable researchers from both GE and UW to develop advanced gasification and “cleaner” coal solutions for Powder River Basin and other […]

Bernard Welding Equipment has introduced a new Metal Inert Gas (MIG) gun Neck Grip and Neck Coupler to improve operator comfort and access to difficult-to-reach joints. Made of a high-temperature silicone rubber tube that slides onto all Bernard Q-Gun and S-Gun necks, the new Neck Grip reduces fatigue and increases operator control for those welders […]